Running Competition

For many people who have taken up running, competition is a natural continuation of their sport. It gives us a chance to see how we measure up against the rest of the crowd. It can be an opportunity to put our training to a serious test. Or it might be the first step on the way to a place in the Olympic team.

Whatever the reason, competition can provide a strong source of motivation and inspire us to greater achievements, both in terms of performance and self-knowledge. It can also be a lot of fun.

There is, however, a potential risk involved for anyone who has worked hard to improve their use. As we have seen, learning to 'inhibit' the unwanted or unnecessary is the first step to making changes. Working in a controlled environment, where stimulation is reduced, reactions can be controlled more easily and use improved. However, when you're out there at the start of a 10-km (6 mile) race, pumped up and raring to go, with lots of others runners bustling around, the environment becomes totally different. Trying to hold on to the memory of good experiences and a fear of losing them, can lead to a state of paralysis and cause a runner to develop a phobia about 'going wrong'. That's why some would advocate that you should avoid putting yourself in situations where it becomes difficult to inhibit your habitual responses, in order not to compromise your newly developed use. There is plenty to be said for this approach. After all, you can't change and stay the same - alas!

For runners who are already competing but are working to break the negative patterns of tension and strain associated with the activity, a sabbatical from racing is often the only solution. Taking some time away from such a powerful stimulus can enable an athlete to pay attention in a way which is difficult - if not impossible - under competitive conditions.

Is this realistic, though? If you've just got the bug for testing yourself in local 10-km (6-mile) races or you're part of the club squad building up towards the season, how likely are you to back off from that tasty first event on the fixture list because of a concern that you'll sacrifice your carefully developed technique as soon as the starter fired the gun? Here's the common-sense solution. Once you have learned how to think during activity, get out there and apply it. Find the path, stray, and find it again. If you stiffen your neck when you do 200-m (656-ft) repeats, start to figure out a way not to. As you get better at preventing this response, you will run better as well.